Characteristics Of Regional Economic Growth In China And Regional Comparisons Based On Spatial Econometric Perspective

Recently, the hypothesis that the relative location of an economy-the effect of being located closer or farther away from other specific economies-ts a determinant of economic growth and the steady-state position of an economy has been underpinned by economic-theoretical models. The empirical literature has two characteristics. One is that mostly adopt the provincial administrative regions as the basic unit of analysis. Due to the unit level selected is too large, the value and practical significance of the studies’conclusions are open to question. On the other hand, mostly use cross-sectional data for analysis, neglecting the fix effect which is not changing with time. Therefore, there is the possibility of biased for the results.View of the above issues, we develop Classical Solow-Swan neoclassical growth model to spatial panel date model, and take prefecture-level as analysis units, to test the impact of the spatial location of regional unit on regional economic growth in China, and to compare the difference of regional economic growth from regional and national level. The results are following:there is obvious evidence supporting the hypotheses that the relative location is a determinant of economic growth and the steady-state position at national level. In details, there are evidence that support the hypotheses that the rate of growth of a particular economy is related to that of its neighbors, and that the steady-state position of a particular economy is related to s, n, g, and d in its neighboring economies due to indirect effects. While the national level date cannot support the hypotheses that the rate of growth of a particular economy is affected by s, n, g, and d in its neighboring economies and that the steady-state position of a particular economy and s, n, g, and d in its neighboring economies have a direct relationship. From the comparisons of5regions, the date of all five regions support the first two hypotheses as national level, and the date of eastern, central, and southwest region support latter two hypotheses, which are not supported by national level date; taking location factors into account, we find evidence of convergence tendency of the economic growth from national level and regional levels, except for Northeast region of China. Our study support that the extended Solow-Swan neoclassical growth model is better than the Classical Solow-Swan neoclassical growth model.